Light sensor

ABSTRACT

A control system, a mouse and a control method thereof are provided. The control system comprises a dongle and the mouse. The dongle is wiredly connected to a host and has a first light source for emitting a first light. The mouse is wirelessly connected to the dongle and has a transmitter, a second light source for emitting a second light, an optical sensor and a processor. The optical sensor senses the first light at a first time interval to generate a first sensing signal and then also, senses the second light at a second time interval to generate a second sensing signal. The processor generates a first control signal and a second control signal according to the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal, respectively, and transmits them to the dongle via the transmitter so that the host receives the first and second control signals via the dongle.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/960,369, filed on Aug. 6, 2013, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference and priority to which is hereby claimed. Application Ser. No. 13/960,369 claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) and 35 U.S.C. § 365(b) to Taiwanese Application No. 102103036, filed on Jan. 28, 2013, the disclosure of which is also incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a control system, a mouse and a control method thereof. More particularly, the mouse of the control system of the present invention can be used for different applications by sensing different lights, which are generated by different light sources at different time intervals.

Descriptions of the Related Art

With the widespread use of personal computers (PCs), various peripheral operating devices such as wireless optical mice and wireless touch pads have been available in the market to allow users to operate operating systems conveniently and in diversified ways.

Existing wireless optical mice are used with dongles. The dongle is plugged into a host to receive a control signal from the wireless optical mouse. The wireless optical mouse has a light source for illuminating an operating plane and a light sensor for sensing the light. Accordingly, according to a sensing signal generated by the light sensor, the wireless optical mouse can generate and transmit a control signal to the dongle to operate the operating system running on the host according to the control signal.

However, the wireless optical mice currently available in the market only have a single application, i.e., can only sense a single light source to generate and transmit a control signal to the dongle. In view of this, an urgent need exists in the art to enable the wireless optical mice to have more applications.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An objective of the present invention is to provide a control system, a mouse and a control method thereof. The control system of the present invention comprises a dongle and a mouse. Both the dongle and the mouse have a light source. The mouse can sense lights, which are generated by different light sources at different time intervals to generate corresponding control signals, and control a host to execute different operations according to the control signals. Thus, the wireless optical mouse of the present invention will have more applications.

To achieve the aforesaid objective, the present invention discloses a control system, which has a dongle and a mouse. The dongle is wiredly connected to a host and has a first light source for emitting a first light. The mouse is wirelessly connected to the dongle, and comprises a transmitter, a second light source, a light sensor and a processor. The second light source is configured to emit a second light. The light sensor is configured to, according to a schedule defining a first time interval and a second time interval, sense the first light through a first light guide path to generate a first sensing signal at the first time interval and sense the second light through a second light guide path to generate a second sensing signal at the second time interval. The processor is electrically connected to the transmitter and the light sensor, and is configured to generate a first control signal according to the first sensing signal, generate a second control signal according to the second sensing signal and transmit the first control signal and the second control signal to the dongle via the transmitter so that the host receives the first control signal and the second control signal via the dongle.

Furthermore, to achieve the aforesaid objective, the present invention further discloses a mouse, which is used with a dongle. The dongle is wiredly connected to a host and has a first light source for emitting a first light. The mouse is wirelessly connected to the dongle, and comprises a transmitter, a second light source, a light sensor and a processor. The second light source is configured to emit a second light. The light sensor is configured to, according to a schedule defining a first time interval and a second time interval, sense the first light through a first light guide path to generate a first sensing signal at the first time interval, and sense the second light through a second light guide path to generate a second sensing signal at the second time interval. The processor is electrically connected to the transmitter and the light sensor, and is configured to generate a first control signal according to the first sensing signal, generate a second control signal according to the second sensing signal and transmit the first control signal and the second control signal to the dongle via the transmitter so that the host receives the first control signal and the second control signal via the dongle.

Furthermore, to achieve the aforesaid objective, the present invention further discloses a control method for a mouse. The mouse is used with a dongle and is wirelessly connected to the dongle. The dongle is wiredly connected to a host and has a first light source for emitting a first light. The mouse comprises a transmitter, a second light source, a light sensor, and a processor. The second light source is configured to emit a second light. The processor is electrically connected to the transmitter and the light sensor. The control method is executed by the processor, and comprises the following steps: enabling the light sensor to, according to a schedule defining a first time interval and a second time interval, sense the first light through a first light guide path to generate a first sensing signal at the first time interval, and sense the second light through a second light guide path to generate a second sensing signal at the second time interval; generating a first control signal according to the first sensing signal; generating a second control signal according to the second sensing signal; and transmitting the first control signal and the second control signal to the dongle via the transmitter so that the host receives the first control signal and the second control signal via the dongle.

The detailed technology and preferred embodiments implemented for the subject invention are described in the following paragraphs accompanying the appended drawings for people skilled in this field to well appreciate the features of the claimed invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a control system 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a schedule according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a control system 3 according to the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a schedule according to the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a control system 5 according to the third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart diagram of a control method according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 7 is a flowchart diagram of a control method according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention provides a control system, a mouse and a control method thereof. It shall be appreciated that the following embodiments are provided to illustrate the technical contents of the present invention, but are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Furthermore, in the following embodiments and the attached drawings, elements unrelated to the present invention are omitted from depiction; and the dimensional relationships among individual elements in the attached drawings are illustrated only for ease of understanding but not to limit the actual scale.

The first embodiment of the present invention is as shown in FIG. 1, which is a schematic view of a control system 1. The control system 1 comprises a dongle 11 and a mouse 13. The dongle 11 may be wiredly connected to a host 31 via a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface. The dongle 11 has a first light source 11 a for emitting a first light.

The mouse 13 and the dongle 11 are wirelessly connected to each other based on the 2.4 G wireless technology, although the present invention is not limited thereto. The mouse 13 has a second light source 13 a, a light sensor 13 b, a processor 13 c and a transmitter 13 d. The second light source 13 a is configured to emit a second light. The processor 13 c is electrically connected to the light sensor 13 b and the transmitter 13 d. The light sensor 13 b, according to a schedule defining a first time interval T1 and a second time interval T2, senses the first light through a first light guide path 10 to generate a first sensing signal 102 at the first time interval T1 and senses the second light through a second light guide path 12 to generate a second sensing signal 104 at the second time interval T2.

Specifically, the mouse 13 further has a first light transmission region P1, a second light transmission region P2, a lens L1 and a lens L2. The first light guide path 10 allows the first light to be transmitted to the light sensor 13 b via the first light transmission region P1, the lens L2 and the lens L1, and the second light guide path allows the second light to be transmitted to the light sensor 13 b via the second light transmission region P2 and the lens L1. The processor 13 c is designed in advance to have the schedule of the first time interval T1 and the second time interval T2, as shown in FIG. 2. According to the schedule, the mouse 13 can be used for different applications (i.e., an application A1 and an application A2) at the first time interval T1 and the second time interval T2 respectively.

In detail, the processor 13 c can generate a first control signal 106 related to the application A1 according to the first sensing signal 102, and generate a second control signal 108 related to the application A2 according to the second sensing signal 104. Then, the processor 13 c transmits the first control signal 106 and the second control signal 108 to the dongle 11 via the transmitter 13 d so that the host 31 receives the first control signal 106 and the second control signal 108 via the dongle 11 to execute corresponding operations respectively.

It shall be appreciated that the first light source 11 a and the second light source 13 a can respectively generate the first light and the second light with different wavelengths or phase differences so that the light sensor 13 b can sense and distinguish between the first light and the second light according to the wavelengths or the phase differences. According to the first sensing signal 102 and the second sensing signal 104 generated by sensing the first light and the second light respectively, the processor 13 c can generate different control signals (i.e., the first control signal 106 and the second control signal 108) so that the host 31 receives the first control signal 106 and the second control signal 108 to execute different operations.

For example, for the application A1, the processor 13 c can calculate range information between the dongle 11 and the mouse 13 according to the first sensing signal 102 generated at the first time interval T1 and generate the first control signal 106 according to the range information so that the host 31 adjusts a window size of a program running on the host 31 according to the first control signal 106.

Furthermore, for the application A1, the processor 13 c of the mouse can further adjust a radio frequency (RF) power of the transmitter 13 d (i.e., the RF power at which the first control signal 106 and the second control signal 108 are transmitted) according to the range information. Thus, as the dongle 11 and the mouse 13 approach each other, the mouse 13 can reduce the RF power of the transmitter 13 d to reduce the overall power consumption.

On the other hand, for the application A2, the second light generated by the second light source 13 a is used for the general purpose of conventional optical mice; that is, the second light is irradiated onto an operating plane, where the user uses the mouse, through the second light transmission region P2 to obtain a reflected light, which is then received by the light sensor 13 b through the second light transmission region P2 and the lens L1. Thus, the processor 13 c can calculate the displacement information according to the second sensing signal 104 generated by the light sensor 13 b at the second time interval T2 to generate the second control signal 108 so that the host 31 adjusts a display position of a cursor according to the second control signal 108.

It shall be appreciated that apart from having the first light source 11 a and the second light source 13 a generate both the first light and the second light with different wavelengths or phase differences respectively, the mouse 13 of the present invention can also distinguish between the first light and the second light by appropriately adjusting the light guide paths to allow the first light and the second light to be received by different regions of the light sensor 13 b respectively, and correspondingly generate the first sensing signal 102 and the second sensing signal 104 respectively.

The second embodiment of the present invention is as shown in FIG. 3, which is a schematic view of a control system 3. The second embodiment is different from the control system 1 of the first embodiment in that the mouse 13 in the second embodiment further has a third light transmission region P3 and a mirror M1, while the processor 13 c is designed in advance to have the schedule of a first time interval T1, a second time interval T2 and a third time interval T3, as shown in FIG. 4. According to the schedule, the mouse 13 can further be used for a different application (i.e., an application A3) at the third time interval T3.

Specifically, in this embodiment, the schedule further defines the third time interval T3, so the light sensor 13 b further senses an environment luminous intensity (i.e., an intensity of a natural light and/or a light generated by a lamp) through a third light guide path 14 to generate a third sensing signal 110 at the third time interval T3. The third light guide path 14 allows the third light to be transmitted to the light sensor 13 b via the third light transmission region P3, the mirror M1 and the lens L1. Thus, according to the schedule, the processor 13 c can further generate a third control signal 112 related to the application A3 according to the third sensing signal 110.

According to the first sensing signal 102, the second sensing signal 104 and the third sensing signal 110 generated by sensing the first light, the second light and the third light respectively, the processor 13 c can generate different control signals (i.e., the first control signal 106, the second control signal 108 and the third control signal 112) so that the host 31 receives the first control signal 106, the second control signal 108 and the third control signal 112 to execute different operations.

For example, for the application A3, the processor 13 c can calculate illuminance information according to the third sensing signal 110 to generate the third control signal 112 and transmit the third control signal 112 to the host 31 via the transmitter 13 d so that the host adjusts a backlight brightness of a monitor (not shown) connected to the host according to the third control signal 112.

However, for the application A3 in another example where the monitor per se has a wireless receiver (e.g. a dongle plugged in), the processor 13 c may also transmit the third control signal 112 to the monitor via the transmitter 13 d directly so that the monitor adjusts a backlight brightness thereof according to the third control signal 112 directly without the need of the host 31.

The third embodiment of the present invention is as shown in FIG. 5, which is a schematic view of a control system 5. The third embodiment is different from the control system 3 of the second embodiment in that the application A3 in the third embodiment is designed to control a brightness of a lamp 51. Therefore, the lamp 51 has a wireless receiver for receiving the third control signal 112.

Specifically, according to the third sensing signal 110 generated by the light sensor 13 b sensing the environment luminous intensity, the processor 13 c can calculate illuminance information according to the third sensing signal 110 to generate the third control signal 112, and transmit the third control signal 112 to the lamp 51 via the transmitter 13 d. After receiving the third control signal 112, the lamp 51 adjusts a light source brightness of a light source thereof according to the third control signal 112.

The fourth embodiment of the present invention is as shown in FIG. 6, which is a flowchart diagram of a control method. The control method of the fourth embodiment can be used in a mouse (e.g., the mouse 13 of the first embodiment). The mouse is used with a dongle and is wirelessly connected to the dongle. The dongle is wiredly connected to a host and has a first light source for emitting a first light. The mouse comprises a transmitter, a second light source, a light sensor, and a processor. The second light source is configured to emit a second light. The processor is electrically connected to the transmitter and the light sensor. The control method is executed by the processor.

First, step S601 is executed to enable the light sensor to, according to a schedule defining a first time interval and a second time interval, sense the first light through a first light guide path to generate a first sensing signal at the first time interval, and sense the second light through a second light guide path to generate a second sensing signal at the second time interval. Then, step S603 is executed to generate a first control signal according to the first sensing signal. Step S605 is executed to generate a second control signal according to the second sensing signal.

Subsequently, step S607 is executed to transmit the first control signal and the second control signal to the dongle via the transmitter. Thus, the host wiredly connected to the dongle can receive the first control signal and the second control signal via the dongle to execute corresponding operations (e.g., calculate range information between the mouse and the dongle according to the first sensing signal to generate the first control signal so that the host adjusts a window size of a program running on the host according to the first control signal; and calculate displacement information according to the second sensing signal to generate the second control signal so that the host calculates a display position of a cursor according to the second control signal).

Furthermore, the mouse per se can also adjust an RF power of the transmitter according to the range information to reduce the power consumption. In addition to the aforesaid steps, the control method of the fourth embodiment can also execute all the operations set forth in the first embodiment and accomplish all the corresponding functions. The method in which the control method of the fourth embodiment executes these operations and accomplishes these functions can be readily appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art based on the explanation of the first embodiment, and thus, will not be further described herein.

The fifth embodiment of the present invention is as shown in FIG. 7, which is a flowchart diagram of a control method. The control method of the fifth embodiment can be used in a mouse (e.g., the mouse 13 of the second embodiment and the third embodiment). The mouse is used with a dongle and is wirelessly connected to the dongle. The dongle is wiredly connected to a host and has a first light source for emitting a first light. The mouse comprises a transmitter, a second light source, a light sensor, and a processor. The second light source is configured to emit a second light. The processor is electrically connected to the transmitter and the light sensor. The control method is executed by the processor.

First, step S701 is executed to enable the light sensor to, according to a schedule defining a first time interval, a second time interval and a third time interval, sense the first light through a first light guide path to generate a first sensing signal at the first time interval, sense the second light through a second light guide path to generate a second sensing signal at the second time interval, and sense an environment luminous intensity through a third light guide path to generate a third sensing signal at the third time interval. Then, step S703 is executed to generate a first control signal according to the first sensing signal. Step S705 is executed to generate a second control signal according to the second sensing signal. Step S707 is executed to calculate illuminance information according to the third sensing signal to generate a third control signal.

Subsequently, step S709 is executed to transmit the first control signal, the second control signal and the third control signal to the dongle via the transmitter. Thus, the host wiredly connected to the dongle can receive the first control signal, the second control signal and the third control signal via the dongle to execute corresponding operations (e.g., the host adjusts a backlight brightness of a monitor connected to the host according to the third control signal).

Furthermore, the step S709 may also be replaced by the following step: transmitting the first control signal and the second control signal to the dongle via the transmitter and transmitting the third control signal to a monitor so that the monitor adjusts the backlight brightness thereof according to the third control signal. Further, step S709 may further be replaced by the following step: transmitting the third control signal to a lamp via the transmitter so that the lamp adjusts a light source brightness of a light source thereof according to the third control signal.

In addition to the aforesaid steps, the control method of the fifth embodiment can also execute all the operations set forth in the second embodiment and the third embodiment and accomplish all the corresponding functions. The method in which the fifth embodiment executes these operations and accomplishes these functions can be readily appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art based on the explanation of the second embodiment and the third embodiment, and thus, will not be further described herein.

According to the above descriptions, through the design of the optical structure and the schedule, the control system of the present invention senses different lights, which are generated by different light sources at different time intervals to execute different applications. Accordingly, as compared to the conventional optical mouse, the wireless optical mouse of the present invention has more applications.

The above disclosure is related to the detailed technical contents and inventive features thereof. People skilled in this field may proceed with a variety of modifications and replacements based on the disclosures and suggestions of the invention as described without departing from the characteristics thereof. Nevertheless, although such modifications and replacements are not fully disclosed in the above descriptions, they have substantially been covered in the following claims as appended. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A light sensor for a control system, being configured to, according to a schedule defining a first time interval and a second time interval, sense a first light through a first light guide path to generate a first sensing signal at the first time interval and sense a second light through a second light guide path to generate a second sensing signal at the second time interval, wherein the first time interval and the second time interval are not overlapped to each other.
 2. The light sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the light sensor is included in a mouse comprising a processor and a transmitter, the first sensing signal is used for the processor to generate a first control signal, the second sensing signal is used for the processor to generate a second control signal, whereby the processor transmits the first control signal and the second control signal to a dongle wiredly connected a host via the transmitter and the host receives the first control signal and the second control signal via the dongle.
 3. The light sensor as claimed in claim 2, wherein the first light is emitted by a first light source of the dongle and the second light is emitted by a second light source of the mouse.
 4. The light sensor as claimed in claim 3, wherein the first sensing signal is used for the processor to calculate range information between the mouse and the dongle so as to adjust an RF power of the transmitter according to the range information.
 5. The light sensor as claimed in claim 3, wherein the first sensing signal is used for the processor to calculate range information between the mouse and the dongle so as to generate the first control signal according to the range information, whereby the host adjusts a window size of a program running on the host according to the first control signal.
 6. The light sensor as claimed in claim 3, wherein the first sensing signal is used for the processor to calculate displacement information according to the second sensing signal so as to generate the second control signal according to displacement information, whereby the host calculates a display position of a cursor according to the second control signal.
 7. The light sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the schedule further defines a third time interval, the light sensor further senses an environment luminous intensity through a third light guide path to generate a third sensing signal at the third time interval, and the first time interval, the second time interval and the third time interval are not overlapped to each other.
 8. The light sensor as claimed in claim 7, wherein the light sensor is included in a mouse comprising a processor and a transmitter, and the third sensing signal is used for the processor to calculate illuminance information so as to generate a third control signal and transmit the third control signal to a host via the transmitter so that the host adjusts a backlight brightness of a monitor connected to the host according to the third control signal.
 9. The light sensor as claimed in claim 7, wherein the light sensor is included in a mouse comprising a processor and a transmitter, and the third sensing signal is used for the processor to calculate illuminance information so as to generate a third control signal and transmit the third control signal to a monitor via the transmitter so that the monitor adjusts a backlight brightness according to the third control signal.
 10. The light sensor as claimed in claim 7, wherein the light sensor is included in a mouse comprising a processor and a transmitter, and the third sensing signal is used for the processor to calculate illuminance information so as to generate a third control signal and transmit the third control signal to a lamp via the transmitter so that the lamp adjusts a light source brightness according to the third control signal. 